Related

When retired schoolteacher Evalyn Cheney died on Dec. 20, 2004 at the age of 84, she left no spouse and no children to leave her money to.

She may have had relatives in her hometown of Calgary, but she was quite clear she didn’t want any of them getting their hands on her cash.

“I specifically do not want any distant relatives who have had no contact with me for years and whom I do not know where they are to have any part of my estate,” she wrote in blue pen in the margins of one of the documents accompanying her will.

Many in her situation would have given their money to charity — to a local hospital, maybe, or an animal shelter.

Not Cheney. Instead, she left her entire fortune— all $632,719 of it — to the B.C. New Democratic Party.

Cheney’s gift to the party was so large that it made her the sixth-largest donor overall to the NDP over the past eight years, dwarfing the contributions of big unions such as the Canadian Auto Workers and the International Association of Firefighters.

Which makes it all the more surprising that, according to one of Cheney’s few longtime friends, she was never all that interested in politics.

A bit of an ‘odd duck’

John Price first met Cheney when his late wife Pauline brought her home from the elementary school in Calgary where they both worked.

“My wife had a habit of picking up odd ducks,” Price recalls. “She was a mixture of fun and difficult.”

Cheney was beloved by many of her students, said Price. But she also refused to follow any curriculum and was moved from school to school by principals who found it difficult to work with her.

Cheney lived by herself in the home she was born in, a small house along Calgary’s Bow River. With no family of her own, she spent her Christmases with the Prices, delighting them with her beautiful piano playing.

But then, inevitably, Cheney would overstay her welcome, said Price, and he would have to politely ask her to leave.

“We enjoyed her company and I think she felt she had a home with us,” said Price. “I’ve always been grateful that my wife had this affinity for picking up people like that, because they add to your life, don’t they? It’s good to have oddball friends.”

In the 1980s, after retiring as a teacher, Cheney moved to West Vancouver. As far as Price knows, she didn’t know anyone on the West Coast. She just wanted to live somewhere with a more temperate climate.

After she moved to B.C., the Prices visited Cheney a few times at her apartment in Ambleside and Cheney came back to Calgary for occasional visits and stayed with them.

Asked why she might have left all her money to the NDP, Price was puzzled. Before The Sun reached him, he didn’t know Cheney had left all her money to the party. Cheney had lots of interests, he said, but politics wasn’t one of them.

“I would say, generally, she had a fairly wide range of interests. But she was more interested in what I call flaky stuff, the sort of stuff I would not dream of reading. New Age stuff.”

A strong NDP supporter

Gerry Mazzei, the West Vancouver lawyer who helped Cheney draft her will in 2003, recalls her very differently.

“She was a very strong NDP supporter,” said Mazzei.

Mazzei said he knew Cheney lived alone and so he would try to call her every few weeks to make sure she was doing OK.

Mazzei said he’s not that interested in politics himself, but — as Cheney’s health deteriorated in her final years — he would often poke fun at the NDP just to get her going.

“She was interested in politics and when she talked politics, it seemed to take her mind off other problems she might have,” said Mazzei.

Mazzei said Cheney often told him that her father, Henry Cheney, helped start the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation — the party that later became the NDP — with Tommy Douglas.

“I don’t even know if it’s true,” Mazzei said.

The Vancouver Sun wasn’t able to find any reference to Cheney being involved in the CCF’s founding and Price said Cheney never mentioned such a connection to him.

There is another possible explanation for why Cheney left her money to the NDP instead of to a charity: In August 2003, when Cheney wrote her will, the NDP was a bit of a charity case.

The 2001 election had decimated the party, reducing it to just two seats, both held by women: Jenny Kwan and Joy MacPhail. The party didn’t even have an official leader yet, with MacPhail filling in on an interim basis.

Mazzei said he doesn’t recall Cheney specifically mentioning the party’s fortunes as a motivation for her will. But he said it’s possible.

“That may well have played in her mind, that the party wasn’t doing well,” he said.

Told of Cheney’s fervent support for the NDP in her final years, Price was surprised.

Price said Cheney always had a soft spot for the disadvantaged, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if she left her money to a homeless shelter.

But he couldn’t recall Cheney ever talking about the NDP. He did note, however, that Cheney had a habit of becoming enchanted with a particular idea for awhile, then dropping it soon after.

“I think the NDP got the benefit of being the flavour of the month,” he said.

According to court filings, most of Cheney’s estate was invested in government bonds. However, her estate also included some shares in banks and energy companies, including 70 shares of Enbridge, the company behind the Northern Gateway pipeline.

$2 million from estates

Cheney’s gift to the NDP is just the largest of donations to the party from people after they died.

Of the 20 biggest overall donations to the NDP since 2005, five are from estates. Overall, the data show, the NDP has received more than $2 million from 17 people naming the party in their will.

In contrast, The Sun could find only two donations to the B.C. Liberals from people after they died: a $1,000 donation from the estate of Henry Lou-Poy and a $406 donation from the estate of John Ernst.

NDP provincial secretary Jan O’Brien said the party sends literature to supporters to remind them they can leave a political donation in their wills.

In some cases, supporters have left their homes to the party.

“They are individuals who often have no family and they share the values of the NDP, so in their will their estate comes to the NDP. The large ones don’t happen that often, there’s been a few of them in the last decade,” O’Brien said. “It is very generous.”

After Cheney’s donation, the second-largest estate gift to the NDP was from Vancouver Island resident Olive Fairbairn, who left the party $465,996.

Nanaimo NDP MLA and lawyer Leonard Krog, who Fairbairn named executor of her will, said she and her late husband were longtime supporters of the party.

“You do find people who, if they don’t have other interests, are quite happy to leave political parties money,” Krog said. “And people who care about social and economic justice, if they’ve done well in their lives, feel like it’s a good time to say thank you. So they support the party that believes in social and economic justice.”

Krog said he’s not entirely sure why estate gifts are more popular among NDP supporters than Liberal supporters, although he did note there’s at least one advantage to the NDP receiving donations from the deceased.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

A Radio-Canada reporter has been arrested for alleged criminal harassment while pursuing the subject of a story. According to Radio-Canada, reporter Antoine Trépanier was arrested Tuesday night by Gatineau police. He was released on a promise to appear in court. Trépanier was called by Gatineau police Tuesday evening and an officer requested that he come […]

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.